Ofsted to carry out focused school inspections in Norfolk

Inspections have started in Norfolk to find out why the county has a disproportionate number of under-performing schools.

The exercise underway in Norfolk is part of a wave of focused school inspections taking place during the current term in local authority areas where the proportion of children attending a good or outstanding school is currently well below the national average.

The most recent published data shows that only 54% of secondary school children in Norfolk attend a good or better school. For primary school children, the figure is 63%.

This week’s exercise is part of a concerted programme of action by Ofsted to establish why children in some parts of the country have a much lower chance of attending a good or better school than their peers in other similar areas. It follows the publication of Ofsted’s Annual Report at the end of November, which found marked and unacceptable variations in school performance between local authority areas with similar demographics and levels of deprivation.

Sean Harford, Ofsted Regional Director for the East of England, said:

‘Every parent wants their child to go to a good or better school. However, in Norfolk a little over half of secondary school age children and only 63% of primary school children currently do so.

‘It cannot be right that local authority areas with similar demographics - such as the size of the population and the levels of deprivation - have such varying levels of provision in schools.

‘That is why we are carrying out focused school inspections across under-performing areas, where we will be looking not just at the performance of the individual schools but also the support they are receiving from their local authority. We will be seeking to determine whether councils are really fulfilling their statutory duties to promote high standards and fair access to educational opportunity.’

The school inspections taking place over the next five days were scheduled to take place this academic year but are being brought forward.

At the same time, Ofsted will conduct a separate telephone survey of a number of Norfolk’s schools, which are not being inspected.

Together this will give a powerful snapshot of not only how well schools are doing in Norfolk since the Annual Report data was collected, but also a strong indication of the quality of external support and direction given to the schools by the local authority.

Evidence gathered from this exercise will be drawn together by inspectors for HM Chief Inspector and the East of England Regional Director. The findings and any recommendations will then be shared with the local authority as well as schools, parents and the wider local public.

Last month, Ofsted launched a consultation on a new framework to inspect the school improvement service being provided by underperforming local authorities.

If inspectors find during the current wave of focused inspections that a local authority is being proactive in addressing key issues and that standards in schools are improving, this will be made clear in a letter setting out the principal findings to that local authority.

However, if there is evidence that the local authority is not fulfilling its statutory duty to promote high standards and fair access to educational opportunity, Ofsted will move to carry out an inspection of that authority’s school improvement function under the new framework that is due to come into effect from May.

Ofsted will also be able to inspect the school improvement functions of any local authority where there are concerns that the statutory duty to improve school standards is not being met. This may include areas where the performance of schools has declined since the data was collected for the last Annual Report.

Notes to editors

Data used is that which was published on 7 March.

HM Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, announced a series of measures to tackle variations in school performance across different local authority areas on 17 January. These included:

a series of targeted school inspections within a condensed one-week period in areas where the proportion of children attending a good or better school is currently well below the national average for England